Category Archives: Rimmel

I find it difficult to write reviews of perfectly adequate products. If I love or hate something, I have plenty to say; when something is acceptable but unexciting, it’s harder.

Rimmel’s Scandaleyes gel liner is fine. The pigmentation is good; the wear is normal for a gel. The texture is acceptable – it’s thicker than the L’oreal gel liners, so I find it a bit more difficult to get a crisp line, but there’s nothing terrible about it.

The included brush is fine. It’s decent for a “free” brush, but it’s a little too firm to be ideal with gel liners – it digs little holes into the gel and gets unevenly coated with liner rather than gliding on the surface of the gel. I may repurpose it as a lip brush.

If you’re looking for a cheap-as-possible gel liner, I’d recommend the Wet n Wild instead – it’s a few dollars less and also a perfectly adequate liner (though it does dry up quickly). If you’re looking for an excellent drugstore gel liner, I’d recommend the L’oreal – it’s a few dollars more, but worth it.

I’ve done black eyeliner swatches before, and even did a post with a wear test way back when my blog was new, but I have different eyeliners now and I wanted to see how they compared.

Instead of trying to keep track of which swatch was which, I wrote an abbreviation for the brand on my arm. The follow table has the abbreviation, name of the eyeliner, and type of eyeliner. Continue reading →

I’ve been hearing about Rimmel’s liquid lipstick, Apocalips, for months – it’s been available in the UK since January or so – and hoping Rimmel would bring it to the US. And, it’s finally arrived, under the name Show Off Lip Laquer! I believe the formulas are identical, but I can’t find the UK ingredients to confirm (the US ingredients are listed on Drugstore.com, here – you can also puchase all the shades there, though most are out of stock at the moment).

Rimmel has had nail polish as part of it’s line for a long time (the Lasting Finish nail polish in rectangular bottles), and as far as I know they are still part of the permanent collection. New this year are the 60-second nail colors, which come in mini bottles and sell for under $2 each. During a recent sale, I bought six of the 18 available shades (I believe these are the only 18 colors available, at least in the US – there is also a clear).

PurchasedAffiliate LinksI haven’t tried very many Rimmel products, so during a 50% off sale at Walgreens, I picked up the new Scandal Eyes Show Off mascara – mainly because I was intrigued by the brush. I’ve seen several brushes with a spiked ball on the tip, but this is the first I’ve tried. Continue reading →

A few days ago, I reviewed the Rimmel Scandal Eyes eyeliners. I love them so much that I decided to try another product from the Scandal Eyes line – the shadow sticks. Like most shadow sticks, you’re supposed to be able to use these multiple ways – as eyeliner, as eyeshadow base, or eyeshadown (worn alone). There are nine shades available (or at least there are nine shades on the Ulta website – which may not have all of them) and I purchased two, Bulletproof Beige and Bad Girl Bronze.

Bulletproof Beige // Bad Girl Bronze

Above, I’ve swatched each shadow stick two ways. On the left, I have a heavy swatch, and on the right is a blended out swatch. If you use the shadow stick as eyeliner you’ll get something more like the heavy swatch – if you use it as an eyeshadow base or an eyeshadow, you’ll get something more like the blended swatch. Unfortunately, even if you use multiple layers, it doesn’t seem possible to build up the color to the opaque swatch level when you’re using it as an eyeshadow.

Edit: I like these enough that I went back and bought a third, Paranoid Purple. Here’s a quick swatch.

Rimmel Scandal Eyes Paranoid Purple

In terms of texture, these are very soft and creamy. I have some of the Urban Decay 24/7 Shadow Pencils, and the Rimmel pencils are noticeably more creamy – the UD ones are much drier and more difficult to blend. I actually rarely use the UD ones because I have difficulty blending them – I much prefer the Rimmel texture!

I’m sure these will be compared to the Milani Shadow Eyez as well, but I haven’t tried those. From looking at reviews, it appears that the Milani shadow sticks may be more opaque. I’m not sure how the texture compares. I may need to buy one to compare myself! If you’ve tried the Milani ones, how would you describe the texture?

I’m sure everyone’s main question is how the Shadow Sticks last and whether they crease, and I’m happy to report that they last all day on me (10+ hours) with no creasing at all. Do note that I have slightly dry skin, so I can’t test how these would fare on someone with oilier skin.

Overall, I really like these – they’re creamy, blendable, and last all day. They’re good for a sheer wash of color and shimmer or as a base. The major downside is that you can’t build them up be opaque.